. After reading No Angel (see below) I couldn’t wait to start the 2nd book. A friend said to me that she liked #2 better than the first one, and I think I agree. It carries on the saga of this gentrified family in the publishing business in WWII era England. There are wartime injuries, even deaths as the family spreads out some (France and America), but it’s still about the London-based core family group that get themselves into trouble at several junctures. Loved this one. Do read them in order, though.
. No, not that Homer, but Homer, the blind cat. It’s a charming, funny, sweet, riveting book that any animal lover should read. We haven’t owned cats for decades, but I enjoy reading about them even if I don’t have one. Homer was a tiny kitten when found, with a dangerous eye infection. The vet who saved him had to remove his eyes, so the little kitten never knew sight. He’s adopted by a patient gal who is a writer already, and I can imagine that little Homer almost wrote the book himself. He’s very brave, willing to take risks – she almost loses him once. If you love animals, you’ve got to read this. I found it at Costco, but it’s also cheap at Amazon in paperback.
by Sarah McCoy. A really really interesting story. About WWII but told from the side of loyal German Hitler-loving citizens. The kind of local people who could be your neighbors, who were very nationalistic and truly believed Hitler was leading them to a better future. I’ve never read anything with a German perspective. The book isn’t political. In a way it’s a type of chick lit (which is why I didn’t suggest my DH read it) as it’s got a moderate amount of romance in it. The entire book is enveloped in the story of the family, who live in Garmisch (a place I’ve visited twice), who own a bakery. Mostly it’s about one of the bakery owner’s daughters. One daughter goes to a 
– by Erik Larson (hard copy) – wow, what a book. In all the literary fiction I’ve read about Nazi Germany, I’d never read that much about what it was like living in Berlin leading up to Hitler’s demonic rampages. This biography is about America’s ambassador to Germany from 1933-37, William Dodd. An academician, Dodd was probably unsuited to the job, yet he brought a kind of humility and clarity to the unrest. Accompanied by his wife and two adult children, they assimilated into the gay life of diplomacy. Dodd was not liked by his counterparts at home, yet he had the ear and appointment specifically because of Roosevelt, but only after 5 other career diplomats turned down the job. Dodd took his position very seriously, hoping that he’d make time to write a book he had worked on for much of his life (a detailed history of the American South). With no internet, no commercial jets and little but old fashioned typewriters or often written by hand, communiques sailed back and forth in diplomatic pouches. Dodd originally was lenient with Hitler, wanting to believe the hype Hitler broadcast. In time, though, he came to realize that Hitler had an insidious master plan. Dodd’s vivacious and beautiful daughter dated all manner of diplomats, Nazis and Russians, and very few Americans. She leaned left. Very far left, to the point of socialism. She had affairs – very inappropriate ones (says me), which undermined her father’s role (yet he seemed oblivious). This book is a real picture of the day to day life back then, well written, well researched and riveting. The Ambassador never did finish his book. But this book – well, everyone should read it. Erik Larson is the famous author of 
– by Willa Cather (on my Kindle) – what a joy to read. I’ve been a big fan of Cather’s writing most of my adult life, although I’ve not read all of her books. She had such a gift of words – such an ability to write a liquid picture – a conjurer of time and place that just doesn’t happen anymore in today’s writing world. The story revolves around a young girl (yes, it’s a coming of age novel) the daughter of a minister in the Midwest who has a musical gift. Her mentors help her to go to Chicago to study. Thea, the heroine here, is a very serious and studious young woman and not given to joy in life. She struggles with loneliness, yet seems to have no ability to reach out of her box to find friends or companionship. As with any young person who moves to a new place for work or study, there is that soulful pull from “home.” Does she give in? I’m not telling. A very good read.
– by Penny Vincenzi (hard copy from the library) – when two friends of mine recommended this book I knew I needed to read it. It’s not new (2004), but it is part of a trilogy by this English author. And I just refused to pay the very high Kindle price so that’s why I visited my local library and found it on the shelf. Vincenzi writes about the day-to-day lives of English gentry, and since I’m addicted to Downton Abbey these days, it sounded like a natural to read this book. It chronicles the lives of this particular family including marriages, births, affairs and chicanery, with their lovely home as the surround, the life style of the then-rich-and-famous, formal dinners. See? Downton Abbey. The difference is that there’s not much in this book about the servants, the below-stairs family. It takes place during the same pre-WWI era (1910′s). Prominent in the story is the book publishing business the family maintains (and with difficulty during the war years run by the two women left at home). Now I need to find the next in the series. If you enjoy family sagas, this one is a gem.
(Stacy Schiff); 
; and 
.
After Easter I must say, I didn’t cook much for several days. I was on overload, but not really because of the cooking I did. If you want to get right to the recipe, skip down to the 5th paragraph.
I bought a new computer for myself. Mine was a 7 year old XP machine, but the motherboard and RAM died. Then, within days I had to buy another computer for my DH too. His laptop was about 10 years old and slow-slow-slow. My new machine, the XPS from Dell, is just gorgeous. I’ve never used Apple, except for my ipod, but others have told me this new machine is much like an Apple. Everything is contained in the monitor, and it happens to be a media center also, so am able to watch TV on it, if I choose to. It even has its own DVR inside (that would make three in our house, and I’m the only one who uses them). No big CPU box to hide, with cables draping from every direction. I have a big (wide) monitor with amazing clarity. It’s sleek, pretty. It worked seamlessly the minute it was out of the box. But my banking software didn’t work. Because of Vista, I thought. Well, maybe not, after a 95 minute phone call to my bank’s customer service folks, then to Microsoft Money people on a conference call (who are in Mexico), which finally got resolved. Then, I bought the 2nd new computer, also a Vista machine (an HP, low level, since my DH doesn’t really spend much time at the computer). But I have to do all the work to get it running correctly, connected, with his Outlook contacts and email moved to the new machine. I managed. Vista actually has a very slick transfer program that walks you through the process. Not difficult, but it was a bit time consuming using my keychain drive and going back and forth from old machine to new machine. But before that, almost right out of the box the computer didn’t run; it was stuck in a loading loop. Only after a 65 minute phone call to HP customer service (those folks were in Argentina) did it work. Two days in a row my ear and arm hurt from holding the darned phone.
Finally, both computers are working well enough. There are still a few things left to do, but at least both new machines are functioning. My beloved MasterCook program is not working well under Vista, however, and am still trying to tweak it per instructions I found on the internet. THEN, you throw in the stress of moving my blog to this new site, and the inherent blips and valleys of it working smoothly. It’s been a very stressful couple of weeks.
So, you see why I didn’t do much cooking. My office was in a turmoil (box after box after box piled in vacant spaces on the carpeting, documentation, Styrofoam inserts, cables, plastic bags, twist ties by the bushel, cords all over everywhere), and that makes me crazy. Our son-in-law, Todd, helped me get some of the cables in the right places behind our large office/bookcase unit. He installed all new cabling outside our house a few weeks ago, so we would have better internet connectivity. Our exterior cables were very old and the connectors rusty since they lie inside the rain gutters. So, all this is probably more than you ever wanted to know about what went on in our house in the last week or so. Right?
Finally, it was time to fix a nicer meal (other than leftovers). I brought out a pork tenderloin from the freezer and used a cooking class recipe. It was from 2003, and I suspect it came from Great News in San Diego. I liked the recipe. It wasn’t a wow, but it was good.
However, one never knows when one will learn a lesson. I trusted the instructions on the recipe – to cook the pork to an internal temp of 155 to 160. I forgot to go check my chart. I’m going to write up a separate posting about my meat roasting chart. You’ll be able to print it out, but keep watching – I’ll discuss it in a day or so.
I made the lemon herb pesto and slathered it all over the roast for awhile and let it rest in the refrigerator. I inserted a meat thermometer and set it for 155. (Mistake.) I got the rest of the meal all ready, popped the roast in the oven and set the timer (the recipe said about 20 minutes). I made the sherry sauce (chicken broth and sherry reduced down to a kind of syrup), popped the leftover scalloped potatoes in the microwave. The meat thermometer started beeping early meaning it had reached 155 internal temp. Quick. Toss the dressing on the salad. My DH sliced the meat, after it had rested for about 4-5 minutes. The meat was overdone, but the flavor was good. That’s when I went to my trusty chart and sighed in dismay. Why didn’t I read it first? No wonder the meat was overdone – about medium – rather than medium rare, the way I like it. You’re supposed to cook to 150, not 155. So, I have a few cook’s notes for you this time.
printer-friendly PDF
Pork Tenderloin with Lemon-Herb Pesto Rub and Sherry Sauce
Recipe: Great News Cooking School, San Diego, 2003
Servings: 7
Cook’s Notes: allow the meat to marinate for a few hours in the lemon-herb pesto, if time permits. Now, ¼ cup of lemon zest is a heck of a lot, I know. But it needs it. Plan on buying a bunch of lemons to get that much. And plan ahead for a way to use all that lemon juice. When you brown the meat in a skillet, if it’s done at too high a heat, it burns the pesto, so be careful. It also begins to cook the meat, too. So, use a medium heat and brown as quickly as possible. And remove the meat from the oven at 150, not 155. I’ve increased the amount of sauce (doubled it) – if the meat is at all dry, you definitely will need more sauce.
LEMON HERB PESTO:
3 cloves garlic — peeled
1/4 cup onion — chopped
1/4 cup lemon zest
1/2 cup Italian parsley
1 tablespoon fresh basil — chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
PORK:
2 pounds pork tenderloin — two strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
SHERRY SAUCE:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups dry sherry
1. Trim pork of all fat and silverskin, wash and pat dry. With the food processor running, drop the garlic cloves and process until minced. Add the onion, lemon zest, parsley and basil. Pulse to chop. With machine running, add the 1/2 cup of olive oil and form a paste. Spread pesto on the pork tenderloins.
2. Preheat oven to 400. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the 2 T. olive oil and then the pork. Cook, turning several times to brown all sides, about 6 minutes. Transfer the pork to a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. Remove pan from oven and allow to sit, lightly tented with foil, for 5 minutes, then slice on a kind of diagonal cut and serve immediately.
3. While pork is baking, pour off fat from frying pan and add chicken broth and sherry to the pan. Bring to a boil and continue simmering, scraping up any brown bits, and reduce sauce by 50% until thickened. Serve sauce with pork.
Per Serving: 396 Calories; 24g Fat (63.8% calories from fat); 28g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 84mg Cholesterol; 127mg Sodium.
Leave a Comment!